Venom Will Be PG-13, Not R Like Director Had Teased

Since the announcement of Venom, fans were being promised that director Ruben Fleischer would be pushing Sony for a “Hard R” rating.

It turns out Sony disagreed with that because Venom has officially received a PG-13 rating. Sony claims this has to do with the fact that they plan on having Venom face off against Spider-Man some time down the road. Obviously, this would be much harder to pull off it the film is focused on blood and gore. As badly as I would love to hear Peter Parker, or his web-slinging alter-ego, drop the F-bomb, I can understand why Sony would push for the PG-13 rating.

While many fans, myself included, were bummed by this announcement, that doesn’t mean Venom can’t or won’t achieve the dark tones it is aiming for. Plenty of films have pulled off a grittier, darker world even with the rating restrictions, The Dark Knight is a prime example.

For fans hoping for a more R-rated experience, there may still be a glimmer of hope. Director Fleischer was approached by Fandango about the possibility of an unrated home entertainment release, to which he said, “I wouldn’t rule anything out. We’ll have to see where it lands, I guess, but I wouldn’t rule anything out.” While this is just as vague as his “push for a hard R rating” response, it is the only promise of a possibly “darker” Venom film for the time being.

On top of that, he also hinted that anyone going to see the film should probably hang around after the credits roll. This is a superhero film after all…

“I think it would be a mistake of any superhero movie not to stay through the credits.”

Thanks, Fleischer. We’ll take your word for it. If I was a gambling man, I would say this is probably when we will see a Carnage tease since the film’s main antagonist is Riot, this seems like the best place to announce the highly anticipated anti-hero.